Ethical Commitments: Promoting and Protecting Human Rights

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ETHICAL COMMITMENTS
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Ethical Commitments
Ethics are the principles that determine the behavior and the code of conduct of an individual
or an organization (Peters, 2015). A commitment is a vow to be dedicated and see
something through to the end. It is the willingness to give your time and energy to something
that you believe in, or a firm decision to do something. Ethical commitment, therefore, is the
dedication and discipline to follow the code of conduct and the beliefs of a person or an
organization (Demirtas, 2015, p. 60). Ethical commitments provide morale to go on when
someone is down or feels like backing out of something they had vowed to do. Furthermore,
ethical commitments to society improve the state and living conditions of society. In any
organization, the awareness and competence of its ethics can either lead to its success or
failure. In this audit, the paper is going to analyze and review one of the United Nation's
(UN) stated ethical commitments.
The United Nations is an international organization whose goal is to maintain world peace
and security, to create a neighborly atmosphere among nations and to create harmony among
nations.The UN was formed in 1945 right after the Second World War with the sole purpose
of reconciling countries that were in conflict and by extension bringing peace to the world in
order to solve social, humanitarian, cultural and economic international problems (Thakur,
2016, p. 5). Currently, the UN houses numerous subsidiaries. They include World Health
Organization (WHO), the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, International Labour
Organization, World Food Programme (WFP) among others.
The activities of the UN are based on ten principles that govern its operations. These
principles are derived from: United Nations Convention against corruption, International
Labour Organizations, Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at work, Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, and the Rio Declaration on Environment and development

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(Burchell, Kennedy, & Murray, 2015, p. 482). Many businesses incorporate these
principles into strategies and policies in a bid to carry out basic responsibilities to the
environment and people which also set them for the long-term success. Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (UDHR) is among the ethical commitments that govern the operations of
the United Nations. The UDHR was documented in 1948 by nine representatives with diverse
cultural, legal and religious backgrounds from all over the world, which emerged from the
experiences of the Second World War. It has proclaimed common standards of treatment for
people of all nations, races, religions, and sexes. It was a great milestone in the history of
human rights, the protection and human dignity upholding. As of today, the document has
been translated into more than five hundred languages (Blau, 2017, p. 62). The reasoning
behind the drafting of the UDHR is as follows:
"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all
members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world,"
"Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which
have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings
shall enjoy the freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been
proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,"
"Whereas it is essential if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to
rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of
law,"
“Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,”
“Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the charter affirmed their faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal